The Key to Eve
a fantasy
10
The Confrontation
PERI AWOKE in a bed of dry leaves, feeling the chill of late October in the air. He heard a chuffing of air near him and opened his eyes to see a dire wolf hovering over him. Around them stood the pack.
The wolf drew back his maw to bare his fangs and growled.
“Br’er Wolf. Greetings to you and you pack,” Peri said.
The wolf sat back on his haunches.
“You speak!”
“Yes. Has no one spoken to you before?”
“We understand enough of the talk of men to know they are our enemies,” said Ma Wolf, approaching her mate.
“I am not an enemy of any creature,” Peri insisted. “Yet I would put an end to the violence of this land if I can.”
“Men stole our pups,” Br’er Wolf said. “They teach them to be dogs.”
“That must be very hard on you. I will try to free your pups.”
“They must die,” Ma Wolf said. “They would always be contaminated by the man smell. They eat scraps of meat from beneath his table. They are even given the man drink to make them docile.”
By this, Peri understood the pups were eating cooked meat and drinking beer, much the way the men and their dogs ate. He could feel the shiver of hatred down all the wolves’ backs as their hackles stood on end. It seemed a shame that the pups should be killed, but he didn’t interfere in the natural ways of the animals he met.
“How do you happen to be so far from your hunting grounds?” Peri asked.
“We followed the man who stole our pups. He came to the mountain forest and trapped them when they were weanlings,” Ma Wolf said. She was drooling from her maw with the thought of ripping Peri’s throat out.
“The men and their dogs are a danger to all the creatures of Tumwater and the surrounds. They hunt the cats and kill anything they catch. They do not kill for food, for as you said, they eat the meat from under the men’s table. I have come to stop the conflict if I can,” Peri said. “I will talk to the dogs and convince them to abandon their masters.”
“We will kill the pups—and whatever dogs may escape the men.”
“I urge your restraint on any dog I can convince to abandon his violent master,” Peri said. “Otherwise, I understand your laws and will not interfere with them.”
“And what do you want from us for doing this thing?” asked Br’er Wolf.
“I ask only that you do not harm any cats, for they are endangered here. When we have freed the pups, return to your hunting grounds in peace and may you have a warm and secure winter,” Peri said.
“The cold is in the mountains. Our coats are filling out. If we do not return soon, our winter fur will shed,” Br’er Wolf said. “We will abide by this rule. “Free the pups so that no dire wolf remains in the hands of men, and we will be gone.”
“Thank you. I must stalk my prey,” Peri said. “I must know whence he comes and what his ways are so that I can turn his dogs away from him.”
“Go, Br’er Talker. We will wait and watch.”
“Thank you, Br’er Wolf. To you and your pack.”
Peri rose and backed away from the wolves respectfully. He did not attempt to touch or pet any of them. These were not house dogs. These were killers—fast, strong, killing machines. He found his way to the village tavern where men seemed to be rising for breakfast. The barmaid spotted him and recognized him, though it had been long since his last visit.
“Br’er Peregrine,” she called to him. “Wash the mugs and plates as they come in and bring in another cask of new beer from the shed,” she ordered.
Peregrine was used to people giving him tasks, even before he said hello. He knew he would be paid in food and a place to sleep. More importantly, he would be able to quietly observe the men and their dogs, lying beneath the tables. Peri quickly spotted the three dire wolf pups, lying beneath one table. They had ropes around their necks and muzzles over their mouths that barely allowed them to gulp at the meat scraps their mountainous master dropped on the floor. He could not help but notice none of the three had as shiny and well-kept a coat as their elders in the pack.
“I’ve had enough,” said one of the men. “I say we assault the mansion and haul out whatever is there.”
“Have you never tried to find a way in?” said another. “There is no gate. The walls, for all they appear low, are slippery and impossible to climb. Ask old Tory about getting inside.”
A man Peri estimated was not much older than him stood in a corner and all eyes turned to him. He had just one eye and his hands were misshapen. He limped over to the fire.
“It ain’t just cats in that garden,” he began. “I was young and strong and determined to get the key to the maiden. I’d discovered there was no way to scale the wall, for I had tried every inch of it. So, I cut me a long pole from an oak sapling, straight and true. I practiced out in the barn until I knew I could vault o’er the wall and not even touch it.”
“Clever! We could do that,” said a couple of men.
“Nay. You shan’t. I vaulted the wall and landed on my feet in the witch’s garden. Oh, let me tell you, she doesn’t come to town any longer to trade her vegetables and fruit, but her garden is lush and green all the year round. My mouth watered with the very sight of it.”
“Did you eat?”
“I never got the chance. Out of no place a cat appeared.”
“The cat! The one with the key?” shouted the men.
“This cat was like no other I’d ever seen. Solid black and as big as a man. It had wings and the head of an eagle with a sharp beak, and instead of claws, it had talons! It growled and I turned tail to run. But the wall is as slippery on the inside as on the outside and I had no pole to help me out. The monster caught me as I was against the wall and swatted me with its big claws so that I sprawled on the ground. It towered over me as I cowered there.”
“Is that how you lost your eye and the use of your hands?”
“Nay. That was the other cats. As the monster held a paw on my privates so I dared not move, a hundred cats poured out of the surrounding shrubbery and from under the plants. I tried to ward them off with my hands and they bit my fingers to the bone. I tossed my head back and forth and one of them scratched out my eye. I was bitten in more places than I can name, and finally, the monster cat lifted its paw and allowed me to stand. I knew it was the end for me. It reared up on its hind legs and swatted me so hard in the side that it broke me ribs. And I flew. I tell you, I flew so high and so far that when I landed against a tree, it broke my leg. And all the way as I flew, I could hear the old witch cackling in her mansion. She never plans to part with that girl. That’s where all the cats have gone to. And the monster. But on none of them did I see a trace of a key.”
The men in the tavern set about their salted pork and beer as that seemed all the fare the tavern had to offer. As they ate, they plotted and planned their next move.
“Fire,” said one. “If we can’t get in, then we’ll burn them out. We’ll arrange a thrower and launch fireballs into the garden. We’ll roast the cats and then go in to find the key.”
The voice sent chills down Peri’s spine. He had to find a way to save the cats and this witch and her daughter.
“For all we know it isn’t a key on a cat at all,” said another. “We should be examining all the pussies in town to see if there’s a key there.”
There was raucous laughter.
“I’ve personally examined Lorelei’s fine pussy. None better, but there was no key,” laughed another.
“Your mouth is too big for your head, Bartleby,” Lorelei shouted from behind the bar.
The men went about their preparations as Peri did his tasks and ate his own breakfast. It would take some time for them to build a catapult that would throw fire into the garden. He needed to talk with the dogs, but they were bound to their masters and he could not hold a decent conversation.
“Peregrine, you’ve grown into a handsome young man,” the barmaid said after dinner had been served and cleaned up. It was more smoked pork with beans and beer.
“It’s been a long time since I passed this way,” he said. “I was scarcely more than a child.”
“True. I saw you then and wanted to spend time with you, but you hurried away the next morning. Now, come to my chamber and lie with me. Let me taste your wares.”
“Indeed, I fear I have no wares,” Peri said. He had far too much on his mind to dally with the barmaid. She must have been nearly twice his age as it was. Or perhaps life had just been that hard on her. “I must go visit my friends in the forest.”
“Tread carefully in the forest,” the barmaid said. “I’ve heard stories of dire wolves making the place unsafe for man or beast. One of the men here keeps three of them on a rope, teaching them to hunt at his command.”
“Freedom for those wolves will cost their lives, I fear,” Peri said. “Nonetheless, I have come to put a stop to the insanity that has captured this village.”
“Bless you for that. I fear your good looks will not deter these men. Oh, for the old days when we laughed and sang in the tavern rather than the days when all we hear is plotting and greed.”
“I will do my best,” Peri said.
As he left the tavern to leave the town, a small black shadow escaped from the tavern as well and darted into the darkness.
“Careful there, Sister Cat. There is danger all around,” Peri whispered.
He was past the outskirts of town when he heard the baying of the dogs. He turned to see a black streak headed toward him with a pack of dogs and several men in pursuit. The time had come whether he was ready or not.
The black streak darted up his pants and perched itself on his shoulder.
“Meroow!” screeched the cat.
“I will protect you, sister,” Peri said holding up his hand to stop the dogs. “Stop your chase this instant!” he commanded to the dogs. “The cat is under my protection and you shall not have her.”
“Give us the cat. We have to have the cat. Master says get the cat,” the dogs howled. Peri backed against a wall and the cat leapt to the top of it.
“You’ll have no cat tonight,” he said. “Your masters are evil and abuse you. They beat you when you have done nothing. They starve you so you will hunt the cats. This is not the life of a good dog. Forsake your masters and turn. The people of the village will feed you and brush your fur and let you lie in front of their fires. Who’ll be a good dog.”
“Forsake master?” a dog growled. “Master is master. We cannot forsake him!”
“Call off the hounds,” a big man said from the back of the pack. The men called for their dogs and the dogs retreated. Peri saw the mountainous man he’d seen in the tavern. “Now we’ll see how well you interrupt our hunt.” He bent and slipped the ropes from the necks of the three dire wolf pups.
Yes, they were pups, but a dire wolf is larger than a man and a six-month old pup is formidable. As soon as they were free of leash and muzzle, the man pointed at Peri.
“Kill him!” he commanded. The pups charged at Peregrine.
